Monthly Archives: March 2008

This is how we roll.

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If you haven’t heard of Radical Reference, it’s a group of librarians dedicated to providing information and supporting social justice. The thing that appeals most to me about the organization is the event-based work they do. The whole thing started with the 2004 Republican National Convention, where a group of librarians provided assistance to demonstrators (you can read more on their ‘about’ page).

I can just imagine being at a big group gathering, providing any information I can to whomever walks up to me. I suppose one interpretation of the ‘radical reference’ term is that it’s no-holds-barred, street reference. I figured the librarians would have to do some research beforehand to be as well-versed as possible, then use their wits to answer questions. Perhaps they could be in cell-phone connection to people at home in front of computers to answer more detailed questions.

Yesterday it occurred to me that with an iPhone, I can provide answers to practically any reference question, on the fly. The thought gave me (good) chills.



This is how we roll.,
originally uploaded by sundaykofax.

… in a golden helmet.

Thoughts on Radical Reference

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If you haven’t heard of Radical Reference, it’s a group of librarians dedicated to providing information and supporting social justice. The thing that appeals most to me about the organization is the event-based work they do. The whole thing started with the 2004 Republican National Convention, where a group of librarians provided assistance to demonstrators (you can read more on their ‘about’ page).

I can just imagine being at a big group gathering, providing any information I can to whomever walks up to me. I suppose one interpretation of the ‘radical reference’ term is that it’s no-holds-barred, street reference. I figured the librarians would have to do some research beforehand to be as well-versed as possible, then use their wits to answer questions. Perhaps they could be in cell-phone connection to people at home in front of computers to answer more detailed questions.

Yesterday it occurred to me that with an iPhone, I can provide answers to practically any reference question, on the fly. The thought gave me (good) chills.

This is my drink

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Mew?

Originally uploaded by sundaykofax




Two for two,
originally uploaded by sundaykofax.

This always happens at library conferences – at least they changed the
sign out front.



This is my drink,
originally uploaded by sundaykofax.

OMG

Two for two

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Mew?

Originally uploaded by sundaykofax




Two for two,
originally uploaded by sundaykofax.

This always happens at library conferences – at least they changed the
sign out front.

too tired to think of a witty or useful title

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So many things happened so fast, after moving to Boston. I had just started getting the hang of my job when Easter weekend hit. Luckily, I had just indulged in an iPhone, so I could continue to do my job whilst barreling down I90 with Jason at the wheel.

iphone!

We had a fabulous weekend. I’m so lucky to have a sig.oth. with a family I like. We got into Buffaloland around dinnertime, so Jason’s parents took us out for a fish fry (I love Lent for the fish). We then drove into the city to meet up with some of Jason’s rad high school friends. We went to the coolest history-themed bar of all time, I drank too much, and we partied till dawn. (I haven’t done that in a loooong time.) I may or may not have won a game of darts, but definitely bragged that I did.

The rest of the weekend was cozy family hanging out. Saturday night we watched Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. Sunday we familied it up, then drove alllll the way back home.

Today I was kind of zonked, but Abby had taken care of the loose ends of printing info and businessmarks[1]. I’m legit!

businessmark

So now I pack up my giant rhino and fly to Minneapolis to be an exhibitor at PLA, and hang out with various and sundry friends.

[1]A business card bookmark

PLA pals

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So hey, I’m going to PLA.

What does that mean?

I’m going to be in Minneapolis from March 25th-30th. If you’re going to PLA, or live in Minneapolis, let me know so we can hang out.

www.internetforoldpeople.com

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I’m spending the day working at the 303 Cafe, around the corner from where I live.

The owner asked if I could help another customer with a Mac get her laptop connected to the wireless network here. (It’s all weird for Macs, apparently, and requires manually adding an IP address.)

This other customer is a Canadian journalist who’s in town visiting. She’s probably my dad’s age, and she seemed to have the same approximate reaction that my dad has to my instructions. I suggested she write down the IP on a Stickie, so when she came back, she would definitely have the IP. She hadn’t used Stickies before, so I showed her that.

We began having a conversation about how she feels that she doesn’t have time to sort through all the possible technologies available to her, partly because she’s busy working, but also because she’s older. (I think her work ethic is also from a generation that doesn’t routinely veer to YouTube at the office.)

She asked me some questions about LibraryThing, and telling her about that (she didn’t believe that that many people still read books) lead to questions about other technologies all the way to me opening up SecondLife for her to look at.

(It was like a bizarre version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.)

By the time we were done, we had agreed that someone needs to start a website for people that separates the technological wheat from the chaff. Basically, I thought of it as a place where I’d write about technology that is either useful or likely to end up needing to know about, like I would explain it to my dad. There are lots of people (not only old people) who are capable of opening up a Word document, but are flabbergasted by the term RSS.

Now, I also assume that someone’s thought of this. I’ve already spent a good hour not working, and so I’ll leave it to someone else to discover it. (Or email me, and we can start a support site for old people.)

UPDATE! LibraryLaura totally had the answer: commoncraft. Laura says “he does videos on lots of different web 2.0 stuff ‘in plain english’ – they’re really cute and clever.”

Laura bonus: VoiceThread – ‘an online media album that can hold essentially any type of media (images, documents and videos) and allows people to make comments in 5 different ways – using voice (with a microphone or telephone), text, audio file, or video (with a webcam) – and share them with anyone they wish.’ (quote from the website)

Update II: Erin wrote in the comments: “have you seen Eons – the social networking site for seniors??